


Beware Bright Colors

by pinchess07



Series: Code: BLUE COAT [2]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: BAMF!Newt, Beware the blue coat, Gen, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 15:23:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9078562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinchess07/pseuds/pinchess07
Summary: For a prompt on the km:In nature, bright coloring is generally a warning to predators to keep away. Unfortunately most wizards are not students of nature, and don't understand what the bright blue jacket of one Newt Scamander might mean. The idea being Newt, as a student of nature, is aware of the rule of thumb about how brightly colored creatures are often poisonous, and it acts as a warning to predators, and so takes on the habit himself? Or it's unintentional.*Could be specific to Grindelwald not knowing he should back off or get his arse handed to him by the seemingly benign Newt, or it could be a 5+1 of wizards who should have paid attention to what bright coloring usually means.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta'ed.

It's a shade of blue that seems to absorb light. Very eye-catching. It suggests that there's something more to the wearer, something to be wary of. Hidden depths.

_(To creatures, when combined with certain actions, it means peace, and calm, and safety.)_

He could have written thousands of words about it, explaining his reasons why. But his experience with humans tell him that it wouldn't be appreciated.

Humans, especially wizards and witches, tend to ignore nature's laws. And so, over and over, they disregard his bright blue warning signal, and underestimate him. It's a very common mistake, because he's also part of the most dangerous species of all to roam the earth, and he wouldn't have survived this long if he wasn't excellent at staying at the top of the food chain.

\- During the War -

"There he is! Wearing a blue coat, like they said," A whisper, from the flap of the tent. Newt stays bent over his notes, his signature blue coat indeed hanging from his shoulders. He's not actually wearing it, since he's just writing a few notes down before turning in for the day.

He consciously loosens his limbs and readies for an attack from behind. He doesn't recognize that voice. The dragon camp was small, and he knew all the other dragon handlers. _How did he sneak in?_

"Don't look like much. Don't even look like that other Scamander." A second voice, barely keeping the volume to a whisper.

Correction. How did _they_  sneak in?

"Good for us, innit? He's the last one. Then we can unlock all the dragon cages and be done with it!" Sneak One blurts. Sneak Two shushes him, and Newt hears the sound of people passing through the tent flap.

They haven't even bothered with Silencing Charms. Or, they don't know how to cast Silencing Charms, which is more likely.

Newt takes a moment to contemplate the ( ~~likely~~ ) deaths of his comrades in the camp as he hears footsteps approach. They're not Newt's friends, and they believe Newt's only here because of his brother. Still, they're good people, fighting for the same cause that Newt is. He'd make arrangements for their bodies to be shipped back to their families.

There's a swish of a coat behind him, and Newt throws himself to the side, avoiding the oncoming punch. His coat slides off his shoulders and onto the floor. Sneak One, all muscles and no speed or finesse, doesn't have any chance to do anything else as Newt elbows him sharply in the gut.

Newt takes the chance to put some distance between him and his attackers as Sneak One writhes on the floor in pain. Sneak Two turns out to be McMarthy, one of the rations officers that only come to the camp once a month. No wonder Newt didn't recognize his voice at first. McMarthy's jaw is hanging open, and he doesn't even have his wand out.

Newt punches him, _for all his dead comrades_ , and he goes down like a sack of bricks beside Sneak One. Only then does Newt take a hold of his wand and cast Incarcerous on both of them. He makes sure the ropes are extra tight, then levitates them. He walks out of his tent, hurrying to the nearest dragon enclosure.

He hates seeing the dragons in what's essentially a giant cage, but it has to be done. Upon inspection, the cage is still secure. The nearest Swedish Shortsnout, Tilde, is eyeing him curiously through the wide spaces between the bars.

Sneak One whimpers and blubbers in fear. "Please don't feed me to the dragons! I'm sorry I tried to kill you!"

McMarthy bursts into ugly tears. "No! I don't wanna die!"

Newt casts two Stunning Spells in their direction, and sets the unconscious bodies down. He turns to Tilde with a smile.

"Hey, girl. I just need you to watch these two for a bit, okay? I need to check the rest of the camp, and take care of the dead. I'll be back in an hour, and I'll bring you some food. Roar if they try to escape, okay?"

Tilde gives a snort and a short growl.

"No, no. They'll give you indigestion even if you roast them first. They're rotten types. I'll be back soon as I can," Newt promises, and only leaves once Tilde yips in agreement.

Newt's pleasantly surprised when he finds the other dragon handlers alive. Beaten up and unconscious, but alive. A few Rennervates and they're back to ther feet, all asking him how he managed to survive the ambush.

Newt avoids their eyes and looks around for inspiration, knowing these people would never believe the truth. His gaze lands on an uneven patch of ground.

"One of them tripped, so I got lucky," he offers with a sheepish smile.

"I managed to get my wand before they did, and it wasn't that hard to aim in close quarters. My Confundus Charm hit the bigger one, and he mistook McMarthy as me, so that's why McMarthy has a black eye," he adds with an awkward shrug. There's silence for a few moments as the others try to digest his explanation.

"McMarthy?" One of them asks furiously.

"That shifty fella from Rations? I knew it!" Another exclaims.

And so the discussion turns to McMarthy the spy, because his comrades are more comfortable talking about McMarthy than thinking of how someone like Newt could have defeated the ambushers.

Newt slips away, back to his tent, to pick up his coat off the floor. A quick Tergeo takes care of the dust on it before he puts it on.

He heads to the dragon food containers, remembering his promise to Tilde.

\- The Niffler -

There's no sentry outside the house. No alarm charms. No wards to keep people away. He has to applaud the sheer stupidity of these people.

Newt knocks on the door politely. There's a loud crashing sound inside, followed by loud swearing from two different voices. Heavy footsteps approach the door. Newt hears chains rattling, and then a click as the lock is turned. The door opens outwardly with such force that it would've knocked Newt down if he hadn't been fast enough to dodge it. Still, Newt pastes his usual awkward smile on his face.

"Whattaya want?" The guy bellows at him, eyes judging him by his lanky frame and dismissing him as not-a-threat. The guy doesn't even stop to think about Newt's blue coat. He also reeks of alcohol.

"Um, I believe you have something of mine, sir. I'm missing my watch. My mother gave it to me, see, and I'd like it back," Newt explains, eyes imploring and tone earnest. It's a lie, of course.

But this man and his two friends have been using a niffler to rob Muggle banks, and chances are, there's a watch or two that's been taken by the niffler as well.

"No idea what yer on 'bout, bub! Scram!" The guy shouts, words sluring together, then slams the door closed. Newt hears him swearing loudly as he walks back inside.

Newt turns the doorknob and the door opens. The guy didn't even think to lock it. He steps inside, and the guy is only three steps ahead, back unguarded. Newt silently casts Silencio on the hallway.

With steps as light as a kneazle's, Newt hurries forward to deliver a kick to the back of the guy's knees.

The guy tumbles down with a pained grunt. One Stupefy later and the guy is down for the count. Two left.

He casts a Disillusionment Charm on himself and crouches down by the end of the hallway before peering at the next room.

One guy is out cold by the mountain of shiny things in the middle of the room, still holding an empty glass in his right hand. That explains why Newt only heard two voices earlier.

The last guy is watching a movie on the telly, drinking whiskey straight out of the bottle. A commercial comes on, and the guy curses it to high heavens. He's most likely the squib mastermind. Newt's heard from the grapevine that the man had suddenly come into a great Muggle fortune, and was exchanging a suspect amount of items, valuable jewelry and Muggle money for magical currency.

No traces of magic can be found at the crime scenes, of course. Because nifflers don't leave traces.

Newt looks around the room until he finally finds it, and he can feel his heart break at the sight.

It's stuffed in a cage meant for a far smaller animal, and the niffler can barely wiggle its tiny paws in the small space. The squib is resting his booted feet on it, heedless of the niffler's distressed cries.

Newt upends the sofa the squib was sitting on with a swish of his wand. The squib yells incoherently, and Newt stuns him as an afterthought.

Newt's main concern is the niffler, of course. He hurries to take it out of the cage.

The other guy sleeps on.

\- The Demiguise - 

He saves two demiguises in France and drops a heartfelt curse when he notices an empty third cage. He hurries out of the building, then apparates up to a rooftop.

It takes him eight minutes and six more rooftop apparations before he spots a man running through a narrow alley.

The man is dragging a small, struggling demiguise by one arm. Newt apparates down to the alley to get a better aim. He won't risk hitting the demiguise.

The guy stops cold in his tracks. Newt straightens his posture and widens his stance. Newt's arms hang loose by his side, and his wand is in one hand, ready for action. He is, of course, in his blue coat. If his enemies take some time to study nature, they'd recognize this as Newt's _ready to pounce_  pose.

"Let the demiguise go, please," Newt states firmly. The guy snarls at him angrily.

Newt is not impressed. He could mimic dragon snarls that are way more impressive. He's half-heartedly contemplating actually showing the man when the demiguise slaps the man with its tail and creates an opening.

"Expelliarmus!" Newt shouts, and the man's hand unclenches around the demiguise. The man's wand, on the other hand, goes flying off... somewhere. The demiguise runs toward Newt's direction, just as Newt surges forward.

The man, now even more enraged, moves as if to strangle Newt, but Newt is faster. He kicks the man's shin, and then stuns him.

Newt takes a deep breath as he pockets his wand. He shifts his stance to nonthreatening, and turns. He has a demiguise to rescue. It's climbing up to the roofstops.

\- The Occamies -

His coat is very conspicuous in China. He doesn't meet anyone's stare as he hurriedly strides toward the ship that's going to take him out of the country. His case is in his left hand, and he's carrying a wicker basket on his right.

Suddenly, there's a commotion behind him, and in mere seconds, a fist fight breaks out. There's a harsh tug on the wicker basket and Newt hisses as it flies through the air toward a smug witch at back of the crowd. She disapparates away, cackling.

Ten minutes later in his ship cabin, he opens his case on the floor and goes in.

The newly-laid, soft occamy eggs are in a bamboo nest that Newt had created earlier. They'll hatch safely in two months, away from poachers. Newt smiles, stroking one egg gently with a finger.

The witch has dungballs transfigured to look like occamy eggs in that basket.

\- The Thunderbird -

There is no point on casting Cleaning Charms on his coat in Egypt. No one can keep the sand out of their clothes.

He's caught wind of a rumor about someone smuggling a Thunderbird into the country.

"You?" The guy snorts at him when Newt tracks him down. The Thunderbird is behind him, covered in an unholy amount of heavy chains. Its wings are torn to shreds. Its magnificent coat is patchy and matted with blood.

Newt could cry. Newt _would_  cry, but later. He'll cry because the cruelty of humans knows no bounds. He'll cry because he is only one man, and he cannot be everywhere at once, and for every beast he rescues, there's ten more that he won't be able to help.

For now, though...

"--think you are, anyway? Barging in here--"

"Silencio! Stupefy! Petrificus Totalus! Incarcerous!" Newt chain-casts. The chatty asshole drops to the floor, stock still, mouth gaping open. Newt steps on his stomach as he crosses to where the thunderbird was chained.

\- Theseus -

"You're an Auror legend internationally, you know," Theseus declares. Newt chokes on his tea.

"I beg your pardon...?" Newt replies weakly once his coughing fit passes.

"Blue Coat, they call you. Not very imaginative, mind," Theseus jokes. Newt just gapes at him.

"They even owl me for ' _Blue Coat_ ' sightings, these days," Theseus adds, grinning widely.

"They do not!" Newt denies vehemently. "...Do they?"

Theseus bursts out laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> BAMF!Newt is fun to write, but it's very hard to make him stay in character. I'd love to know what you think!


End file.
